


Build Me a Shelter

by Krasimer



Series: And Now a Flower Grows 'Verse [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: But only sort of? Just read it, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, Makes sense if you know the AU, Mettaton as a human, Papyrus as a human, Pre-Relationship, Which is just the part before this, pre-death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 11:37:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6327412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/Krasimer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They weren't the only ones to die in the fighting. There were others, countless others, and they all have a story to tell. </p><p>What of the boy with the beautiful voice and the empty family home? </p><p>(AKA: The story of Mettaton before he was Mettaton and the death of Napstablook.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Build Me a Shelter

The sky was growing dark all around, the hum of magic versus magic and the clash of metal against metal making his heart race in his chest and he ran through the crowds. 

Monsters surrounded them, humans interspersed, and he was panicking.

"NATAN!" he shouted as he ran, his feet somehow steady despite the seeming endless change of the landscape. He had managed to lose track of his cousin in the fighting, neither of them truly able or prepared to be in the war that had come about suddenly. A shiver crossed the back of his neck, his chest clutched tight with the fear of Death coming for the only family member he had left.

His head whipped to one side as he heard it, a barely-there shout over the noises surrounding them. "HANAN!" came the answering cry of his cousin. 

With a nervous swallow as he sped around a couple of people locked in a deadly stance with others, he jumped over the remaining obstacles in his rush to get to his cousin. "Natan!" he whispered, putting a hand on his cousin's shoulder, eyes wide at the blood staining the front of his blue shirt. 

Despite the danger still surrounding them, they were safe for the moment, sheltered by the trees and stones that had fallen in the first wave of attacks. 

Natan's breath was short, each one sounding more pained than the last, but his grip was firm as he took Hanan's hand in his own. "You need to get out of here." he hissed, swallowing something before grimacing. "It's dangerous, and we should not be here anyways." 

With a huff of nervous laughter, Hanan shook his head. "Father and mother died when I was little, all I have left is you. If I leave this battlefield, it will be with you."

"Not sure that is what will happen..." Natan groaned.

"You are one of the few things I have left in this world," Hanan whispered, flinching away from the noises of a fight coming too close on one side of them. "One of the few things I still cherish despite everything. I will not leave you here, Natan."

"...D-" Natan coughed, a wretched sort of sound that implied worse things inside of his body. "Do you ever lie still and think about the stars above us? It always makes me feel better."

With another cough and his eyes closing halfway, his movements stopped. 

Hanan choked on his next breath, dragging his cousin's knife off the ground and into his hands. His cousin was dead, the life pulled out of him by the senseless fighting still going on around them, but there was still something he could do.

He had to find Paraskevas. Or Sotiris, but he would prefer to deal with the younger of the two brothers. 

A flicker of memory informed him that they were likely setting up the spell-barrier on the monsters, their father leading the four others who would be helping with such a task. He stood slowly, then made a break for it, dodging through the crowds once more, slinging off an attack that by all rights should have hit it's mark.

He didn't care.

The songs his mother had sung to him as a child floated in his mind, the tremor of fear in her voice the last time he had heard it clinging to him. This was a similar moment, and he would do anything he could to see the end of this fighting, even if it meant having to fight.

This would be the end of this war, and he would do what he could.

An ache bloomed in his side, the running more than his body wanted to handle, but he could see Paraskevas's post, could even see the man himself. Little more than thirty feet separated them, even with his body's energy flagging until he could feel the urge to pass out.

So of course it was then that his luck dried up.

A sword pierced through his gut as he dropped to his knees, mouth hanging open in shock. It seemed, he thought as he turned to look at his attacker, as if some of the local bastards had decided to take this as a chance to do what they wanted. Glaring, he curled in on himself, lashing out dangerously when the man came closer, slicing open his hand before jamming Natan's blade into his thigh and ripping it sideways.

Despite the shape of him, the body he had inherited from his mother, his father had trained him in some things.

The man dropped to the ground and Hanan sighed, one hand clutching the hilt of the sword stuck through him as he rose back to shaky legs, limping the last several feet towards the fighter he had been looking for. 

"...Hanan?" Paraskevas questioned, quick to support him as he fell again, not allowing the younger man to hit the ground. "Hanan, where is Natan? He was supposed to-" his words cut off as Hanan offered Natan's dagger out to him. "You're bleeding quite badly, Hanan."

Hanan grinned at him. "It's not that bad, darling. Besides," he winced, swallowing through the fog of pain. "I am here with you. Nothing can be so bad when that is the truth. I can help you in some way, perhaps?"

"But..." Paraskevas wiped a hand over his cheek, clearing away some of the blood splatter. "Very well. You can help me by speaking with me, alright?"

"Yes," Hanan's smile was softer for him, leaning into the hand. "Oh, darling, yes I can do that."

Paraskevas smiled back, a false cheer erected for the younger man. He acted as a healer as well as a warrior. The fondness he felt for this man, the heart-pounding affection and dare he say, perhaps love, was overshadowed by the knowledge that he would be dead within the hour. The shirt he wore had been purple when he had stood before him earlier that day, his cousin at his side.

Now it was a dark, ugly burgundy color, his lifeblood staining it beyond recognition of the original shade.

**Author's Note:**

> So!
> 
> Hanan is Mettaton as a human. Natan is Napstablook. This idea is based off the fact that monster souls don't stick around outside of the body. Which made me wonder where the ghosts came from. Originally had a very different idea for the backstory of these guys, but this made more sense when I thought about it. Hanan and Natan are, from what I researched, Hebrew names. 
> 
> "In Hebrew the meaning of the name Hanan is: Grace. In numerology, People with this name have a deep inner desire for love and companionship, and want to work with others to achieve peace and harmony."
> 
> That seemed to fit Mettaton quite nicely, as well as work with the idea that his original name was Hapsta or something like that. I kept seeing it around the fandom, and I liked it.
> 
> "Nathan is a masculine given name. It is derived from the Hebrew verb נתן meaning to give (standard Hebrew Natan, Yiddish Nussen or Nosson, Tiberian Hebrew Nāṯān). The meaning of the name in Jewish culture could be rendered "he [God] has given" or "he will give"."
> 
> This seemed, to me, to fit in with Napstablook. In the game, he gives rewards, music, companionship and safety to "You" as you wander into the world. He is watching over you, in a manner, and it just fit really well in my opinion.


End file.
